water contaminants – Aquarius-Systems

Nutrient Pollution Drives Nitrate Problems in Decatur Drinking Water Source

Fri, 17 Dec 2021 15:59:14 +0000

Surrounded by some of the world’s richest soil and home to two major grain processing plants, Decatur has long been a hub for agribusiness in the United States.

One major trade-off comes in the form of excess nutrients, specifically nitrogen and phosphorus, that runoff from fertilizers used on local farm fields and from discharges from wastewater treatment plants and factories.

In an effort to make the water safe to drink, Decatur, Illinois constructed a $7.6 million nitrate reduction facility in 2002. But, that does not mean the nutrients have gone away as runoff from farms in the lake’s watershed and wastewater discharge from heavy industry find their way into the lake and, eventually, beyond.

Raccoon River Pollution Threatens Drinking Water With Nitrates and Toxic Algae

Fri, 17 Dec 2021 15:11:56 +0000

A national environmental organization labeled the Raccoon River one of the country’s most endangered because of toxic algae and nitrates. Des Moines Water Works called it a “catastrophe,” as the Raccoon is the major source for drinking water for a half-million Iowans.

Des Moines Water Works, after dumping as much as $250,000 a year into buying water from the increasingly polluted Saylorville Lake, is now considering a $50 million treatment plant expansion. But who will pay for it?

The report that labeled the Raccoon River endangered blamed the problem on the farm chemicals and livestock manure that are running from those emerald fields into our increasingly sickly green rivers and streams. However a lawsuit to share the cost with upstream polluters failed along with a separate case against the state of Iowa alleging the state was violating the public trust by failing to protect the Raccoon River from pollution.

Read More https://iowacapitaldispatch.com/2021/07/12/green-water-is-costing-iowans-millions-of-greenbacks/

Wastewater Treatment Does Not Remove All Chemicals From Water

Fri, 17 Dec 2021 15:04:10 +0000

All the things that go down the drain and end up at the waste water treatment plant are not removed there. Some of the industrial byproducts that end up in sewers, the agricultural chemicals that runoff farmland, and pharmaceuticals that pass through our bodies all can end up in our streams and lakes.

Water treatment plants do a good job of killing the viruses and bacteria that cause waterborne diseases such as typhoid, cholera, and dysentery. But dealing with chemicals seems more complicated for regulators. Only recently PFAS was discovered in drinking water, but it had been there for decades. More than likely there are other chemicals not yet detected.

Scientists don’t have the research facilities and money necessary to study what the complex mixtures of chemicals do to human health.

Study Finds Plastic Chemicals in the Ocean Can Cause Deformities in Marine Life

Fri, 05 Nov 2021 16:57:56 +0000

Biologists in Cornwall have found that chemicals released in the ocean from plastic can lead to deformities in marine animals.

The study by biologists from the Centre for Ecology and Conservation on Exeter’s Penryn Campus found that plastics in the ocean can release chemicals that cause deformities in sea urchin larvae.

Thousands of Golf Balls Removed From Monterey Bay Raise Concerns About Marine Pollution

Tue, 26 Feb 2019 19:37:51 +0000

Alex Weber, a junior at Carmel High School in California, and her friend Jack Johnston had repeatedly come across large numbers of golf balls on the ocean floor while snorkeling in the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary near the town of Carmel-by-the-Sea.

As environmentally conscious teens, they started removing golf balls from the water, one by one. By the time Alex contacted me, they had retrieved over 10,000 golf balls – more than half a ton.

Alex, her friends and her father paddled, dove, heaved and hauled. By mid-2018 the results were startling: They had collected nearly 40,000 golf balls from three sites near coastal golf courses: Cypress Point, Pebble Beach and the Carmel River Mouth. And following Alex’s encouragement, Pebble Beach employees started to retrieve golf balls from beaches next to their course, amassing more than 10,000 additional balls.

Modern golf balls are made of a polyurethane elastomer shell and a synthetic rubber core. Manufacturers add zinc oxide, zinc acrylate and benzoyl peroxide to the solid core for flexibility and durability. These substances are also acutely toxic to marine life.

When golf balls are hit into the ocean, they immediately sink to the bottom. No ill effects on local wildlife have been documented to date from exposure to golf balls. But as the balls degrade and fragment at sea, they may leach chemicals and microplastics into the water or sediments. Moreover, if the balls break into small fragments, fish, birds or other animals could ingest them.